Education
Ph.D. (2021), Philosophy, Trinity College, University of Aberdeen
Dissertation: Hearing, Doing, Becoming: a Kierkegaardian Phenomenology of the Self
M.A. (2017), Philosophy of Religion, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dissertation: ‘Myths of Reason and Idols of Faith: A Kierkegaardian Dialogue with Evangelical Apologetics”
B.A. (2008), History of Ideas, The College at Southeastern
About
Amber Bowen grew up in Raleigh, NC and knew she had a love for academics from the time she joined a high school debate team. After studying History of Ideas in college, she moved to Milan, Italy for 4 years. There she taught philosophy at Collegio San Carlo, a private, Italian high school located across the street from Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church where Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper is located. She loved teaching, and the experience of being immersed in the Italian cultural and linguistic context profoundly shaped her. She returned to the US to continue her education with the hopes of being able to teach at the college level. After completing a Master of Arts in Analytic Philosophy of Religion, she then pursued a PhD in philosophy from the University of Aberdeen where she focused on Continental Philosophy of Religion, particularly Søren Kierekgaard and Phenomenology. During her PhD program, she spent one semester studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and two years as a visiting scholar and research fellow at the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In April 2021 she defended her dissertation titled “Hearing, Doing, and Becoming: A Kierkegaardian Phenomenology of the Self.”
Research Interests
- Soren Kierkegaard
- Phenomenology
- Continental Philosophy of Religion
- Analytic/Continental Philosophical Dialogue
- (Post) Critical Hermeneutics
Recent Publications
Edited Volumes
The Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar, 25th Anniversary: Retrospect and Prospect. Coedited with Craig Bartholomew, David Beldman, William Olhausen. Zondervan Academic, October 2022.
Theology and Black Mirror. Coedited with John Anthony Dunne. Theology and Pop Culture Series. Minneapolis: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, April 2022.
Book Chapters
“Jean-Yves Lacoste and Johannes de Silentio: A Liturgical Reading of Fear and Trembling,” in God and Phenomenology: Thinking with Jean-Yves Lacoste. Edited by Martin Koci and Joeri Schrijvers. Wipf & Stock Press, forthcoming.
“Barbarism, Boredom, and the Question Concerning Pornography.” In Black Mirror and Theology. Eds. Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne. Minneapolis: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, forthcoming.
“Arkangel and the Death of God: A Nietzschean Critique of Technology’s Soteriological Scheme.” Co-written with Megan Fritts. In Black Mirror and Theology. Eds. Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne. Minneapolis: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, forthcoming.
“Hermeneutics and (New) Phenomenology.” Cowritten with J. Aaron Simmons. In Scripture and Hermeneutics: Retrospect and Prospect. Eds. Craig Bartholomew, David Beldman, Amber Bowen, and William Olhausen. Zondervan Academic, under contract.
“Kierkegaard and My Own Pursuit of Authenticity.” In Taking Kierkegaard Personally: First Person Responses. Eds. Gordon Marino and Jamie Lorentzen. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, November 2020.
Journal Articles
“It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right: Phenomenology, Theology, and Janicaud,” in “After the Theological Turn: Essays in (New) Continental Philosophical Theology,” edited by Martin Koci. Special issue, Religions 8, no. 1, 2022.
“Working in Time: From Barbarism to Repetition.” Religions 12(8), 565. 2021.
“REAL LOVE: Kierkegaard, The Seducer, The Judge, and The Altar”. Journal of Religious Ethics, 49: 577-595. 2021.
“Reviving the Dead: A Kierkegaardian Turn from the Self-Positing to the Theological Self.” In “Kierkegaard and Theology,” edited by C. Stephen Evans and Andrew Torrance. Special issue, Religions 10, no. 11, 2019.
“How to Cross the Rubicon without Falling in: Michel Henry, Søren Kierkegaard, and New Phenomenology.” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 80, no. 4, 2019.
“The Importance of Patience in Kierkegaard’s Becoming Self.” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 20, no.10, 2020.
Invited Papers
“More than Quotable: The Explicit Kierkegaardianism in Jean-Luc Marion’s Phenomenology.” To be delivered at the Kierkegaard in France conference held at Cambridge University (UK), May 21, 2021.
“It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right: Third-Way Responses to Janicaud.” Delivered at Phenomenology and Theology Make Two: A Seminar on the Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of Dominique Janicaud’s ‘Tournant théologique’ co-sponsored by Cambridge University and the Institut Catholique de Paris, May 19, 2021.
“Restoring the Dignity of Time.” Delivered at the Ethics of Work session at the 2020 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society held virtually on November 16, 2020.
“Jean-Yves Lacoste and Johannes de Silentio: A Liturgical Reading of Fear and Trembling.” Delivered at the Søren Kierkegaard Society session at the 2020 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion held virtually on December 7, 2020.
“Porous Boundaries and a Continued Discussion: The Influence of Jean-Yves Lacoste on Oliver O’Donovan.” Delivered at the Scripture and Hermeneutics seminary sponsored by the Tyndale House Scripture Collective at the 2019 annual meeting of the Institute for Biblical Research in San Diego, CA.
Delivered Papers
“It’s About Time: The Importance of Patience in Kierkegaard’s Becoming Self.” Delivered at the 2019 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Diego, CA.
Popular Articles/Reviews
“Kierkegaard and the Analytic Tradition,” The Henry Center, April 2021.
“Philosopher of the Heart by Clare Carlisle,” Mere Orthodoxy, June 2020.
Translated Books
Merida, Tony and Rick Morton. La Cura degli Orfani: Tornare a un’idea di adozione e cura degli orfani fondata sul vangelo. Trans. Amber Bowen and Stefania D’Ascenzo. Florence, Italy: B.E. Edizioni, 2017.
